The World Tales - Twisted Story of a Hero and a Demon Lord

CHAPTER 11

It was already past midnight.

Alexia had no plan to wake up in the middle of that darkness, but her throat felt so dry. The thirst which had come out of nowhere was pricking on her throat like a thousand of thorns, and she couldn't ignore them any longer.

Water. She definitely needed some water.

Having no other choice, the girl lazily snuggled out from her warm bed, sloppily wearing her boots, and went outside her room. With sleepy eyes, she trod down the stairs with a quiet step, and went through the back door to go outside.

A breeze of night wind blew onto her as soon as she came outside. The cold wind cut through her clothes, and brushed on her just waking up skin. Alexia promptly shivered to the spine.

As the girl wiped off the last of her sleepiness, she blinked her eyes a few times to adjust her vision. She swept her eyes towards her surroundings, carefully searching the water source she had seen at the evening when she was arrived at the seaside village.

The night was dark, but the dim small lanterns which scarcely scattered throughout the village actually gave her enough light to see. Divided by cobblestone pathway, some wooden house lined up above a raised wooden plank over a white sandy ground, while some other houses stood firmly on the solid ground grown with sparse grass. The house she had stayed in was one of the latter. It was Karlan's house.

By the coach driver's hospitality, Alexia and her group had been offered to stay at his house to spend the night. Considering their late arrival time, it would be better to face the real quest tomorrow with a proper daylight.

In short, she actually hadn't done anything notable for the quest progress.

Nonetheless, she wasn't mistaken about the sight she had seen in the evening. The stone well—the main water source in the seaside village—actually existed, not just in her imagination, but in reality. It was located near a dim hanging lantern a few steps in front of her.

Hoping for a chance to be freed from the painful thirst quickly, the girl kicked the grassy soil and the white sand below her boots, and hurriedly moved her feet to reach the stone well.

The brimming clear water was reflecting the lantern's light. The surface rippled gently as Alexia scooped the water with a small wooden bucket she got from the side. She quickly gulped the water, and washing her throat with the icy touch. The cool water promptly streamed down her dry throat, and finally released her from the thirst torture.

She took a deep breath, relieved.

The air has a slight scent of sea, as expected from a seaside village. At the evening, she could see the high mountains which surrounded the village like a giant spine and also a few beaches around it. Still, right now, with the dark of the night shrouding the place, there was not much she could see beside the village itself which was illuminated by dim lantern light.

When she arrived in the evening, the village was quiet enough. The village shore which was opened to the sea was dark with no sign of people. Almost all of the house windows were closed shut, as if the villagers were wary with the ghost appearance. Even so, the quietness and the eeriness definitely couldn't beat the present condition, right at the dead of the night.

No sound was heard, not even a single cicada. Everything around her felt so dead, as if there was no sign of life in this village.

Suddenly, Alexia heard a vague rustling sound within the silence. In a blink of an eye, she went straight from relaxed to vigilant. First thing on her mind was the appearance of the so-called ghost.